Good news! Okay, you might have read the newsline before, but I find it important to go into detail.
I recently had the pleasure to chat with the lovely people of Marine Megafauna Foundation, fronted by Dr. Simon Peirce and Dr. Andrea Marshall, one of the leading scientists in all things manta ray.
Among many other things she was the biologist to establish the recent diversification between Reef Manta (Manta alfredi) and Pelagic Manta (Manta birostris)

I had the pleasure to meet her in Mozambique on a press assignment and Andrea also visited Yap before.
In the (sad) face of the increasing targetting and fisheries, we are proud to announce that we made it onto her worldwide list of “Top 10 Favourite Manta Ray Viewing Destinations“.

This is what the Queen of Mantas says about Yap and us:
“[…] Besides the nice conditions, Yap boasts one of the only year-round populations of manta rays, known to be virtually accessible all of the time. Many of the staff including owner Bill Acker (a.k.a Manta Man) have been diving this island for years, and are extremely knowledgeable about these resident rays. Keen to protect their own, they also are very conservation oriented and have strict codes of conduct in place for diving with the rays at cleaning stations. Yap also remains one of only a handful of places on earth where manta rays are protected by law.“

This is a nice recognition of the efforts made by the government of Yap to protect these animals, and picking us as the original dive resort of the island is a nice recognition of our efforts to keep the mantas’ habitats intact by our own code of conduct.
I really, really hope that the government will follow suit and protect sharks as well. There would be a huge benefit for both animals and people.

We will continue to do our best to pay respect to our beloved flying carpets of the sea and also support Andrea with her studies. They are more important than ever!